


Just Us

by Agitated_Procrastinator



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Idk I haven't been active in this fandom for like 2 years I was just feeling Emotions™ today, This is post chapter 80, so spoilers for the manga?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agitated_Procrastinator/pseuds/Agitated_Procrastinator
Summary: It was just them. The last two veterans, with the leagues of eyes from their fallen comrades watching them. With the healing family of the survey corps tracking their backs for their every move, and a nation looking at them for guidance.





	Just Us

**Author's Note:**

> ((I haven't interacted with this fandom for like two solid years but apparently watching an AMV and reading the finishing chapters of a fic from ages ago does things to you.))

Rose dusted the sky, chasing away the stormy grey hues that had plagued the scarred battle ground hours before. The last few birds swooped across the cloud stricken sky, disappearing over the horizon to a land far across the leagues of ocean, water stretching further than anyone within the walls could ever imagine, and full of more life than they'd ever managed to document without casualty. Wall Maria stood tall, grimy and beaten with the scars of battle, and a massacre of houses lay far beneath the stone. Debris littered with gore, and ground quenched in blood, the clean-up had been long and grueling. The agony of loss setting in far too slowly for any normal person, but for what was left of the survey corps, this was just another expedition; the same casualties and the same mind numbing grief as each of the others.

Soft wisps of mist escaped Hanji’s mouth with a drawn out sigh, warmth fading from the air as the night took control and she pressed a hand lightly against the bandages across her eye. The pain there was dull, ebbing constantly like the ache that had settled in her bones years ago, despite the fact that it had only been inflicted days prior. She kicked her legs absently over the ledge, the same image flashing before her eyes over and over. The same familiar body ascending into the sky, the same shriek of her name, the same bright white blast of light, the same agony burning through her side as she was shoved to safety. The same familiar face burnt away in that moment of pure heat.

Her hand tightened against the bandages, breath catching in her throat and clogging her airway with regret. Pain stabbed at her skin as her nails dug into the soft fabric and hot tears pricked against her good eye, the other stinging endlessly. A solid warmth gripped her shoulder and she jumped, suddenly all too aware of her surroundings. The wind whistled over the top of the stone grey wall and she glanced up, blurred vision meeting a tired gaze.

Levi sighed gently, dropping his hand and lowering himself to sit beside her and knocking his shoulder against hers gently. “This’ll be a mess to clean up,” he grumbled and Hanji let out a short bark of laughter, her voice unclogging her throat and allowing breath to pass through,

“Of course you'd worry about that Levi. I think we've done a pretty good job considering everything,” she grinned and Levi raised an eyebrow before shrugging, leaning into her arm.

“That's because your room is a mess, four-eyes. You’d think a horde of titans was the neatest thing you'd ever seen if they were interesting enough,” he scoffed and Hanji hummed under her breath.

“Anything can be interesting enough if you're willing to listen, captain clean freak,” she stuck out her tongue for a moment before sighing and looking off to the side, eyes catching the scattered remains of a squadron’s gear and wincing. Levi grunted half-heartedly and looked up, letting out a long sigh,

“So it's just us then.” Hanji glanced back over to him, raising an eyebrow, 

“What do you mean?” She hummed, pressing against his shoulder and he huffed, leaning in to meet her.

“It's just us. We're the last two. Mike and Erwin are gone, Nanaba and Moblit too. The entire force has practically been wiped. It's just us and those bright eyed kids. Just us and-” he cut himself off, turning to press his face against her shoulder and she swallowed thickly. 

“Yeah Levi. It's just us. Everyone's gone.” She whispered and Levi butted her shoulder with his head and she wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

They had survived years serving in the survey corps, years of watching their comrades fall to the same creatures over and over again. Each time they came back, it hurt. It hurt to lose faces you wanted to see again, and it hurt even more the longer you'd known them. Hanji had never thought it could get worse than watching your subordinates die, watching people you swore to protect and lead be massacred in a moment. But somehow…  _ this _ was worse. Hanji didn't remember a time in the survey corps without Erwin. She didn't remember a time Moblit wasn't there to help her with her experiments and keep her out of trouble. She didn't remember a day where Mike wasn't willing to listen to her ramble and offer some advice, however sparse it had been. She didn't remember a day where Nanaba wasn't there to be supportive however she could, but they were all gone.

The newer recruits had been in awe at them - at that small group of soldiers. Those few people.  _ Veterans _ . Those that had been fighting longer than they could remember, people who had sweat iron, who had shed blood and tears for the cause. They were infallible, experienced and unkillable in every way. Then everything changed. The titans changed, their reasons changed, their knowledge changed- the whole thing  _ changed _ \- and slowly those veterans, those undefeated champions started  _ falling _ . One by one they fell and the more they fell the bigger a blow it was. Levi’s squad, fighting under, alongside, and  _ as _ the best of the best, then the rest started falling too and they scrambled for ways to fix it-  _ to survive _ . Then Nanaba. Mike. Moblit. Erwin. All of them, every last one until-

“It's just us.” Levi spoke plainly. He always did. It was rare he let emotion slip into his voice, but he did. He always felt it in some way- Hanji had known him long enough to hear the pain constricting around those words. He'd been through this before. He'd been the last man standing a lifetime ago- maybe even two if you counted the past he hated to confront. He'd been left alone as a child, he'd been left alone in his first weeks above ground- and here he was. Years later. He'd been left alone as one of the last men standing- so he wasn't all alone this time- and she was grateful for that.

Hanji had never been very good at the whole… alone… thing…

She'd grown up like that sure- no close relation to any kind of sibling she could have had and she'd been far more interested in the sciences and experimenting than socialising with other kids her age. She never cared about the life she was supposed to lead, and the thrall of the survey corps called to her more than anything. It had been just for that first. For the excitement and the discovery. She grew used to having people around. Being with people who she could talk to, who she could love and trust.

Her entire squad was wiped out, and that light desire for knowledge turned into dark crimson blood lust. She wanted to destroy everything that had taken them away from her, and she wanted to eradicate every last titan. In that rage she found quiet. She found the silence that time alone had brought her and she  _ loathed it _ . She lashed out, taking out her anger on the limb of a titan and just like  _ that,  _ just in the blink of an eye her wonder returned. If she couldn't avenge her fallen comrades, she would make their sacrifice carry weight. She would make their deaths  _ mean _ something.

Levi nudged her gently and Hanji blinked, pulling herself away from the painful memories and nodded softly, eyes cast over the land before them as the sun set. “Yeah. It is."

They would have to tell the kids. Tell those…  _ bright eyed brats _ , as Levi liked to call them, that all those deaths had only brought their safety. They would have to tell hopeful eyes and wanting hearts that life beyond the walls only led to a wide expanse of disappointment that was blocked by another wall, and they'd have to tell them that.. they had the ocean, but only for so long.

Another civilization wanted them dead. They wanted that hard enough they sent other  _ humans _ to their dooms, to their practically inescapable fate of becoming a titan just to eat other people in hopes one would be a shifter. Another civilization wanted them dead for something their ancestors had done. People they had never known and had no knowledge of before now. Hanji clutched Levi's shoulder and he tilted his head questioningly, glancing at her only to meet a grimly amused gaze.

“Shit's fucked. Isn't it?” She scoffed and Levi snorted, letting out an abrupt bark of laughter, reaching up to ruffle her hair without a moment's thought.

“Yeah,” he grinned, “Yeah it is, but at least we're still kicking, eh shitty glasses? At least we're still here. We've got an assload to teach those kids and even more of an assload to clean up around here.” Levi gestured at the ground with a dismissive wave and she laughed, the tension in her  chest easing up a bit as she rolled her eyes at him, only getting an amused smirk in return.

“You're the commander now, Hanji. That means shit's going to be fucked for a pretty long time.”

Hanji sighed, letting go of Levi and leaning back on her palms to glance at the lights emerging from the dark blanket of sky above them, cold stone fitting against her war calloused hands like a glove. Levi tilted his head up.

His eyes had never lost that spark. Hanji knew that. She'd sat next to him for years, and he'd never lost the wonder of looking up at the stars, at the every changing lights in the sky that Isabel and Farlan had loved so dearly. She smiled, the darkness coating one of her eyes not feeling quite so sharp anymore.

“But at least it's us, right? I don't think I'd be very good alone - and I doubt moblit would put up with me for another few years,” she grinned and Levi huffed in amusement. He looked back and her and she gave him a tight lipped smile in return.

“Hanji, there are worse people to be stuck with than you, and I think Moblit would've agreed,”

_ I'd rather be here with you than stuck alone again. _

Hanji’s smile eased and she dropped her head, closing the other eye and pressing her face against his shoulder, happy for the warmth that what little company they had to share could provide. “Thanks Levi.”

“Anytime.”

It was just them. The last two veterans, with the leagues of eyes from their fallen comrades watching them. With the healing family of the survey corps tracking their backs for their every move, and a nation looking at them for guidance. It was just them.

But at least they weren't alone.


End file.
